A Distinction without a Difference
by Verse Ranger
Summary: During Broken Bow, with Captain Archer in sickbay, why would Trip let T'Pol take command of the NX-01? This story follows right after the events of The Logic of an Emotional Decision.


**Disclaimers**

Star Trek: Enterprise and its characters are copyright CBS/Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended by me. This work is solely for the purpose of entertainment and is not for profit.

 **Acknowledgements**

Much thanks to Artisticmom2 for her beta read and feedback (so long ago she probably forgot she ever even read it).

This scene takes place directly after the Decon scene in Broken Bow (with a slight reference to the underlying interactions described in The Logic of an Emotional Decision).

 **A Distinction without a Difference**

T'Pol did her utmost to ignore the agitation she sensed from the Bridge Crew as she stepped off of the turbolift. All eyes were on her, and it was clear that Commander Tucker's lack of presence was keenly noted. Lieutenant Reed stood up from the captain's chair and turned to face her. T'Pol walked to the top of the step leading down to the 'command pit' and halted, assuming a stance that she knew from her training would imply authority to humans, with her feet planed wide apart and her hands clasped behind her. "Has our status changed Mr. Reed?"

The lieutenant answered in a professional tone, "No Sub-commander. No change." When she made no move towards the captain's chair, his expression changed slightly as he tried to determine the best way to ask the question in his mind. After a brief moment, he decided a neutral approach would be best. "Will Commander Tucker be joining us on the Bridge ma'am?"

T'Pol's response maintained her crisp tone, "No. Commander Tucker indicated that the believed his presence was needed in Engineering when we left decontamination."

Reed nodded. _So, Tucker is avoiding a public confrontation over command_ , he thought. Not the outcome he had expected.

T'Pol turned and took a few purposeful steps to Ensign Sato's station and asked crisply "Do you have the information I requested?"

Hoshi replied in a professional tone, "Yes ma'am." She then handed T'Pol a PADD and stated flatly, "Schematics for the main sensor systems." Then handing her a second PADD she added just as flatly, "And the sensor data analysis programming code."

T'Pol accepted the PADDs with a nod of her head, and then she turned to stride purposefully across the bridge, speaking in a commanding tone, "Mister Reed, you have the bridge. I will be in the Captain's ready room should the situation change in any way."

Once she was alone in the ready room, T'Pol immediately set to work reviewing the schematics for _Enterprise's_ sensors. Her initial assessment of sensor capability as insufficient was accurate, but her assessment of the cause had been incorrect. She had believed the design to be unsophisticated due to the technological limitations of the Human designers. Much to her surprise though, she found the designs more advanced than she had anticipated. Their limitations were clearly the product of very deliberate design choices, which emphasized simplicity and redundancy. She realized that this approach was eminently logical.

 _Enterprise_ was envisioned as a ship of exploration, expected to operate for long periods of time far from any known friendly base. Redundancy meant that the systems could suffer multiple failures and continue to operate, while simplicity ensured that repairs could be conducted by the ship's crew with minimal resources and without external assistance. This design also meant that modifying the sensors to collect the data needed would not be difficult, as some of the redundant systems could simply be repurposed and recalibrated with minimal time and effort. She then turned her attention to the sensor data analysis software. She quickly realized that it would be a simple task to insert an additional subroutine to the existing programing to analyze the specific data necessary to produce an accurate warp signature reading.

Having demined that tracking the Suliban ship was possible; she now needed to determine how to approach the chain of command issue. Her initial plan was to contact Ambassador Soval and Star Fleet to confirm her status as acting captain. But Captain Archer had clearly ordered no contact with either until Klaang had been recovered. There were other reasons to avoid contacting higher authority as well. Once the issue was raised to the level of the Ambassador and Admiral Forest, whoever commanded _Enterprise_ would be constrained by the decisions made on Earth. And despite her protestation in Decontamination as to how things would be resolved once she contacted Earth, there was no way to predict those decisions with absolute certainty. She came to the conclusion that contacting Earth would only be necessary and advisable if Commander Tucker intended to challenge her authority.

Upon reflection, she realized the logical course of action was to secure Commander Tuckers assent to her command which would obviate the need to contact Earth for formal approval. She reached for the comm control, "Sub-commander T'Pol to Commander Tucker."

The response was much faster than she had anticipated, almost instantaneous, as if he had been waiting for her to contact him, "Tucker here."

Her words were even, disguising the anxiety she was suppressing, "Please join me in the Captain's ready room. We need to discuss our next course of action."

The reply was once again immediate and direct "On my way."

She immediately turned her attention to writing the subroutine for the data analysis, and was almost finished with it when she heard the door chime a few minutes later. "Come in," she called out in an even tone, once again suppressing her anxiety as she looked up at the door. As it slid open she saw Trip standing there. His manner was calm now, but she could see there was still an underlying tension in his body. She stood up quickly in an effort to show him collegial respect, rather than remaining seated to express command authority. He noted her position behind the desk and pursed his lips as he stepped into the ready room, but remained silent until the door closed behind him.

"You didn't waste much time getn' settled in," he noted with an effort at nonchalance and a little nod in her direction, but his southern drawl was thick, betraying his anxiety to anyone who knew him well. He walked casually across the room to the same seat he had been sitting in the first time she had met him, and sat down not waiting for her to ask him to take a seat. "So, I take it you talked to Soval and Starfleet."

She mentally noted his deliberate breach of formal protocol in not waiting to be invited to sit down. Looking him directly in the eyes as she took her seat again behind the desk, she responded flatly, "No." When he failed to respond, she continued, "The Captain made his intent not to contact Starfleet prior to the completion of the mission clear. I would prefer to adhere to those wishes." She paused again to note any reaction on his part. When he made no attempt to interject she pressed on, "I believe that we can resolve the issue of the chain of command and implement an effective plan to further the mission in the Captain's temporary absence." She noted the look on his face changed and was now what humans would term 'perplexed'.

Trip finally spoke, "Further the mission?"

"Yes," T'Pol responded "I have determined that _Enterprise_ 's sensors can be adapted to the task of identifying and tracking a warp signature quite easily. Once the modifications have been implemented, we should be able to identify and track the Suliban ship without much difficulty."

Trip leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. He was curious, but also a bit wary; _Maybe she's just setting me up for something._ But he couldn't keep himself from asking, "Why?"

It was now her turn to be perplexed, but her composure prevented her from revealing that. "The logic is simple. The Suliban ship that left Rigel is our only potential source of information about the location of Klaang at present." His eyes narrowed and she realized her answer had not provided any clarification for him.

"No, why continue the mission at all?" he asked with a tone of sincere curiosity.

His question took her completely off guard. Because she had sensed such a strong desire to continue the mission from him before, she had not anticipated that he would question her about why they should now. Reflexively, she launched into her justification "Captain Archer made his intentions to find Klaang and complete this mission clear before we arrived at Rigel X."

Trip's expression softened somewhat as he unfolded his arms and slid his elbows out along the arms of the chair. "So this is just about carrying out the Cap'n's orders? You'd do the same thing if this were a Vulcan ship?"

T'Pol's initial answer of "No" seemed to surprise him, and his eyebrows went up, which she took as a visual cue to expound on her answer. The response in her mind was _If this were a Vulcan ship, I would not be in this situation_ , but she understood that such a statement, though accurate, would be taken by him as provocative, and would not be helpful in her goal of achieving his cooperation. "If this were a Vulcan ship, under High Command authority, the consequences of having Klaang abducted would be a moderate diplomatic setback with the Klingons, which might be offset by the confirmation of Suliban involvement with his disappearance. Vulcan has established a degree of respect, if not trust with the Klingons."

She paused for a moment to assess his level of comprehension, and seeing that he was following her argument, she continued. "As this is an Earth vessel though, the factors to consider are different. Earth has no prior encounters with the Klingons. Should you tell the Klingons that the Suliban abducted Klaang, they very well might not believe you, and think that you had instead decided to keep Klaang and interrogate him to learn more about the Klingon Empire and their potential vulnerabilities. The diplomatic consequences for Earth would be significant, perhaps even catastrophic."

Trip nodded, assenting to her logic.

"Therefore, my decision to continue on this mission is based on factors unique to the fact that this is an Earth vessel," she concluded, deciding to leave out any discussion of human reactions to a Vulcan canceling the mission at this point, as she sensed it was a self-serving justification.

"So, it's all just Stellar Geopolitics for you?" he asked, sounding just slightly disappointed, and it was really more of a statement than a question. His mind was still trying to find the missing piece, adding after a moment "Well, as long as it's all logical," as his mind worked through the puzzle. He reached up and scratched his cheek absentmindedly before asking, "Aren't you supposed to be here to keep us from doing a reckless charge off into the unknown like we're about to do here?"

She followed up quickly with the logical question, "You think this course of action is reckless?"

Trip took a deep breath, and then started "Well, we'll be chasing a ship with unknown capabilities to a location that could be anything from a remote outpost to a fleet anchorage. The only 'weapons' we've got operational at the moment are some pretty low powered pop guns that were really designed to just break up big chunks of stuff into smaller bits so the deflector can push them out of the way. Oh, and our engine is basically a prototype that hasn't been fully tested yet so there's no way to tell how it'll hold up under the stress of a fight. And the only real advantage that we've got on our side is surprise, 'cause the Suliban are probably thinking were not crazy enough to chase 'em at this point. That surprise isn't gonna last long once we're there. So, yeah, I'd say it's kind of risky." As he finished he thought he saw a twinkle in her eye, and got the sinking feeling he'd just fallen into her trap.

T'Pol was surprised. His logic was flawless, if crudely articulated. He clearly understood the dangers involved in chasing down the Suliban ship. She was now intensely curious to know why he wanted to anyway. "So why persevere?" she asked with clearly honest curiosity.

The question took Trip off guard. He'd been expecting her to slam his own words back at him to explain why they needed to scrub the mission now, so it took him a second to re-orient his thinking and his southern drawl came out even thicker. "Well… I've been reading up on the Klingons. They're a warrior people who value courage and honor above all else. That's something my people know a little about. Like you said, we show up without Klaang and without a scratch, they're gonna assume something fishy is up. They're gonna want payback. Might even cause a war between us and the Klingons, and that would be bad news. But if we show up with Klaang, or at least show up with the scars to show we tried to get him back then they'll maybe accept us as an honorable people. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a fight here, but if we have to take some lumps so that Earth doesn't get into a war, I'll do that without a second thought."

T'Pol noted to herself that he had followed the Human tendency to extrapolate to the worst possible outcome, but that did not mean his thought process was flawed. She looked into his eyes and said the first words that came to her mind "The needs of the many out weight the needs of the few."

Trip looked back at her, nodded just a little, and responded, "Yeah, I guess you could put it that way."

She thought his enlightenment was somewhat sudden. Barely a half an hour earlier, his emotions had been raw and his motivations intensely personal, so she pressed further. "You have no personal desire in the mission succeeding beyond serving your people?"

Trip leaned forward in the chair and flashed a boyish smile. "Well, sure, I won't pretend," he admitted. "I want to be part of the club. I want to make this engine fly right. I want to explore the stars, and see things no one on Earth has ever seen before. And if we don't get Klaang back, that won't happen." Trip paused for a moment and finally added with a smile, "And Cap'n Archer did promise to bring them their man back. I hate the idea of making the Cap'n a liar."

T'Pol found the honesty of his response very intriguing. It indicated yet another layer of complexity to Human emotion she had not anticipated. In the immediate aftermath of the firefight and the Captain being wounded, he had sought to use one set of emotions to mask these feelings. Now, after having time to process the events, he was willing to freely share these same emotions. She could not find the logic in it, but she had a deep desire to understand it. She also felt a distinct unease about the deceptive nature of her own answer. She had not been dishonest, but she had not been as forthcoming as Mister Tucker had been with her, and the imbalance disturbed her for some reason she could not identify.

T'Pol's contemplations resulted in silence that continued to lengthen, which was starting to make Trip uncomfortable. Finally, not able to take the silence stretching on any further he asked, "Is that a problem?"

His question snapped T'Pol out of her contemplation, and she responded almost automatically. "To us, it is unseemly to express personal motivations for a particular course of action or the success of a collective endeavor." Then, after a short pause, during which she considered the potential impact of her statement, she added. "But that is a Vulcan attitude that should not apply here, on an Earth ship. I have been informed that for Humans, it is considered a good leadership practice to cultivate personal interests that coincides with collective success."

Trip nodded slightly, acknowledging her concession to Human social norms, and asked "So, what are we gonna do?"

She looked him directly in the eyes and spoke as evenly as possible, "We are going to modify the sensors. Then, once we have isolated the Suliban ship's warp trail, we are going to initiate pursuit at best possible speed."

Trip nodded slowly and asked, "With you as acting Cap'n?"

"Yes, it is the most logical solution," she responded flatly.

"Because your Vulcan rank is higher than mine?" he asked.

"And, because to get maximum performance out of the engines, we will need you in engineering, not on the bridge," she added.

She had a very good point there. _It's the right play, you know it is. But that doesn't mean you should just roll over for her,_ he thought. Nodding again and letting a wide grin spread across his face, Trip challenged her with a new point, "I'm still not convinced Starfleet would be happy with me just letting a Vulcan take command of their best ship."

T'Pol was uncertain as to why he was still resisting the idea. She suspected his objection was insincere, but she could not contemplate a reason for him to take such an action. "What do you propose we do?"

One of the things that had been bothering him about this conversation crystalized in Trip's mind. _Why doesn't she want to contact anyone all of a sudden? She'd been all good and ready to call Soval the moment we left decon less than half an hour ago._ "Why don't we just contact the Ambassador and Starfleet and formalize all this?"

Her eyes tightened as she spoke, "As I previously told you, the Captain specifically ordered me not to contact them."

Trip couldn't help his grin getting bigger as he realized she was getting agitated. "Yeah, but he never ordered me not to. So why don't I make the call, and we get all this sorted out."

T'Pol's eyes narrowed even further. _Humans tend to be 'stubborn' but this particular human seems more so than most._ She pressed on, trying to not let her frustration show. "Contacting higher authority could greatly reduce our flexibility in dealing with our current circumstance."

Trip looked directly into her eyes and though he saw a hint of uncertainty. _What's she worried about?_ So he pressed further, "Meaning what? You don't think Soval will back you up? Or that Starfleet will agree with Soval's recommendation?"

 _Why does he continue to demand more reasons when the logic is clear?_ She thought. "I have no doubt that the Ambassador will recommend I take command, and that Starfleet will concur." _Why does it feel improper to tell him more? There is nothing improper in stating the truth._ "But, Ambassador Soval may decide that providing assistance in modifying your sensors exceeds our technology sharing agreements with Earth. He might prohibit me from doing so, thus forcing us to abandon our pursuit of the Suliban ship. We would be compelled to end the mission." _And that would damage Vulcan-Earth relations_ , she thought, but did not say. She suddenly realized that this was what felt inappropriate. She was arguing for a course of action that she felt would benefit her personally. She now sensed a personal interest in the maintenance of good relations between the High Command and Starfleet.

Trip nodded slowly as he ran his tongue inside his cheek. _So, she's as much on the hook for this with Soval, as I am with Starfleet._ He started to smile again, "So, partners in crime then."

T'Pol tipped her head to the side slightly and responded, "I do not think this constitutes a criminal conspiracy."

Trip shrugged his shoulders slightly and tried to explain. "It's just a turn of phrase. It's not exactly illegal, but I still don't think Starfleet would be happy with me just letting someone who isn't Starfleet take command. And it sounds like the Ambassador won't be too happy about what your planning either."

T'Pol nodded slightly in acknowledgement. "You are accepting my authority to take command," she stated in a flat tone, as an observation of fact.

Trip pursed his lips. Even though she hadn't posed it as a question, he felt he shouldn't let her just assume his agreement. _Just go ahead and say it._ "Yeah." _As long as we're continuing the mission_ , he thought. He sat thinking for a brief moment, _what was it that Lieutenant Reed was saying just the other day when the Cap'n told him we were heading to Rigel, in for a penny, in for a pound._ "I guess that makes me your First Officer." She nodded her head once, in assent. _This is gonna be a rough transition_ Trip though _._ _Might as well do my best to make this work._ "Mind if I give you a little advice?" Then after a short pause he added, "As your First Officer."

T'Pol nodded her head once again, in assent.

"A Human crew isn't like a Vulcan crew."

Her eyes narrowed and she worked to control her agitation at his statement of the obvious. "I am aware of that."

"I'm sure you are," Trip continued. "But this is one of the biggest leadership challenges any officer can face on a Human ship, taking command after losing a Cap'n, even just temporary command," he paused to let the weight of his words sink in.

Her eyes relaxed some. "Your advice."

"Here's what you should probably do. Get the latest word on the Cap'n's status from the Doc here in private, then go on the Bridge and make a ship wide announcement. Remember, for us Humans, no matter how bad the news is, what we fear is even worse. Without information in a bad situation, we fill in the blanks with the worst case. All you need to say is how the Cap'n's doing, that you're in command, and that the mission hasn't changed."

Trip paused to let that register, and then pressed on. "Next, you need to brief the Command Crew on the plan. Do it in Command Information Center, right behind the Bridge, just like the Cap'n does. But don't announce it to the rest of the crew until we've actually modified the sensors and we're sure this is gonna work." Trip paused again to let all that sink in as well.

T'Pol's eyes continued to tighten, and she began to take deep, measured breaths to moderate her growing agitation at his words. _Does he intend to dictate my every command action?_

"Is there anything else?" She asked after a moment of silence. Her tone was sharper than she had intended, causing her even more agitation at the degree to which this particular human was stressing her self-control.

Her sharp tone pierced Trip's sense of good will, and he leaned back in the chair a little and folded his arms. "Yeah, one more thing. Once we get done modifying the sensors, you need to plant yourself in that command chair. Let the crew get used to hearing you give orders as that Cap'n. That way, when you have to give a hard order to follow, it's not the first order they hear you give."

They locked eyes without speaking, until once again, Trip couldn't take the silence any longer. "I'm just trying to help here. And don't worry, I'm gonna do my best to stay out of your hair on the bridge."

She tilted her head slightly to the side, which by now, Trip recognized as a prompt to explain more. "It's just a saying. It means to stay out of someone's way."

Her head remained tilted, so he tried again. "Not cause problems?"

She nodded once in understanding, but Trip still felt like he needed to explain further. "Look, the crew knows me. I've been the second in command for, well, since there was crew of just me and Cap'n Archer, and _Enterprise_ was just some rough engineering sketches. If I'm on the Bridge, or even just at the command briefing you give on the plan, they're gonna be looking to me to see if I approve, and that's a head ache you don't need. Besides, you're right, I need to be with the engine to make sure she stays running at her best."

She continued to look at him in silence, her body motionless except for her breathing, until Trip threw his arms up in the air and almost shouted, "Look, don't believe me if you don't want to, but I'm telling you, it's been over half an hour now since we got back. People saw the Cap'n taken unconscious from the shuttle bay to sickbay with a leg wound. Rumors on a ship this size spread like wildfire. Now, Engineering knows he's gonna be ok eventually, cause I told my people. And security probably knows, cause I'm sure Lieutenant Reed got the word to his people too. But that leaves a lot of people on this ship who have no idea what's going on. Half of them probably think the Cap'n's had his leg amputated by now, and the other half probably thinks he's already dead."

It was time to conclude this conversation she decided. "I will take your recommendations under advisement," she stated flatly.

Trips eyes narrowed as he stared into hers. _Why does she have to be so damn stubborn about taking good advice?_ He pointed his finger directly at her, stabbing the air with it as he spoke to emphasize his words, but he spoke in a cool, even tone. "You do that. Because we're gonna need a hundred and ten percent from everyone on this crew to complete this mission. And if you don't do this right, we won't get it. You want to be in command of _Enterprise_ , this is what it's about, getting the crew to give everything they've got for the Cap'n and the mission."

Having made his point, Trip slowly stood up, and then spoke again in a much more even tone now that he'd vented more of his frustrations. "One more thing. Give me a couple minutes before you come to the Bridge to make your announcement to the crew about the Cap'n. I need to talk to Lieutenant Reed. He's probably out there waiting for me to tell him to take you to the brig."

T'Pol's raised one of her eyebrows just slightly.

Trip saw her response, and held up one hand as if to keep her thoughts in check for a moment. He even managed a smile. "Don't take it personally. That's just the way these Fleet Security guys think. You're not Starfleet, and he's really not in the mindset that I'm gonna let you take command. So I need to explain the situation to him."

T'Pol nodded once in assent, and said nothing as he walked over to activate the door and leave. As she was now Captain, he should have asked for permission to depart. She would have been perfectly within her authority to order him to halt and remain until she excused him, but that seemed a pointless exercise of her authority _. How much value should I give his advice when he cannot even abide by the most basic of protocols?_ But she remembered he did not limit this lack of courtesy to her. He had been late to the Captain's Mess without bothering to relay a message beforehand, a clear act of disrespect for Captain Archer. Yet the Captain seemed not bothered by it at all.

Captain Archer seemed to value this man's advice very highly. _Perhaps I do not appreciate the subtleties of human leadership?_ Upon further reflection, she found his advice on informing the crew of the Captain's condition a logical course of action. The realization gave her pause _. How am I to recognize logical advice when it is presented in such an emotional way? I will have to evaluate each of his recommendations individually, and follow only those that prove to be logical._

T'Pol reached over and activated the desk comm system. "Sub-commander T'Pol to Dr. Phlox." In a matter of seconds, the comm chirped, and a cheerful voice announced, "Phlox here." She responded in an even tone, "Doctor, could you provide me with a medical update on Captain Archer. I intend to brief the crew on his condition and prognosis."

 **Author's notes:** In the Decon scene, T'Pol makes it very clear she intends to contact Soval and force Starfleet to approve her taking command. Yet in the next scene, it's very clear that didn't happen. This is just my attempt to explain why it all makes sense that she never made that call back to Earth, and why Trip would let her take command anyway.

This is part of a larger project that has been stalled (for years), but I think it works fine on its own as well, so I figured I would just post it.


End file.
